South African School Provides Education for Pregnant Teens

Agence France-Presse profiles the "Pretoria Hospital School where students, some as young as 13, are given the chance to carry on learning in a country where expectant schoolgirls -- and their numbers are alarming -- are often expelled." The news agency notes, "Teenage pregnancy rates remain high in South Africa, despite years of campaigns against unprotected sex in a country where more than 10 percent of the population live with the HIV virus that causes AIDS." The school "has 108 students, aged 13 to 18, following a peak in 2011 with 134 girls," AFP writes, adding, "After giving birth, the teens return to finish the academic year as new mothers." AFP includes comments from the school's principal, Rina van Niekerk, and Andile Dube, director of LoveLife, the country's "largest youth-targeted HIV/AIDS campaign" (Khumalo, 8/23).

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